


Seeing You Again

by paperprincess



Category: Naruto
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Long Distance Relationship, M/M, Meeting for the first time, Modern AU, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-27 07:42:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17158010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paperprincess/pseuds/paperprincess
Summary: Naruto Is Finally going to see his boyfriend in real life for the first time in years- how's it gonna go?





	Seeing You Again

**Author's Note:**

> this is my secret santa present to Tumblr user https://gardensaladuchiha.tumblr.com/ i hope you like it

Naruto awoke on the the day that Gaara was set to arrive in Konoha with a smile on his face and two new alerts on his phone. He opened them quickly, almost dropping it in his eagerness.

 

_ Hey, I know you’re asleep, but I’m getting on the plane now.  _

 

_ I’ll see you soon. _

 

Naruto grinned and buried his face in his pillow, letting the hand holding his phone clunk against the back of his head. He was going to see Gaara. He was going to get to see Gaara for the first time since middle school, when he and his siblings came to Naruto’s school for a fencing competition. It had been years and years since then. But now Gaara was _ finally  _ coming to visit.

 

They’d reconnected a couple years into highschool, when Gaara’s profile came up on Naruto’s feed as a  _ ‘person he may know _ ’. He’d sent the request, and within a week he couldn’t leave his phone anywhere for fear of missing a message. They had so much in common. Gaara had felt isolated, lost and alone, like he had. Gaara valued his input, and he listened to his advice. It had been two or three months before they began talking on the phone, and hearing Gaara’s voice, low and gravelly, set something off in Naruto that still to this day made him blush. They’d talk for hours, and talking for hours quickly became falling asleep on the phone, listening to one another breathing. Gaara often said that he slept better with Naruto’s breathing in the background. Naruto didn’t want to admit that he stayed up to listen to Gaara’s. 

 

It was a year of all night phone calls and 24/7 text conversations before they were dating. Naruto had been the one to ask, one night, after he thought Gaara was asleep, he’d whispered into his phone’s receiver.

 

_ “I wish I could take you out, date you, hold your hand.” _

 

He’d had a heart attack when Gaara had whispered back.  _ “Me too.” _

 

But the rest was history. Three years of a long distance relationship, explaining it to friends and sighing into the phone and Gaara was finally,  _ finally _ going to visit. Naruto had his own apartment now, he was twenty one and had finally gotten control of his inheritance. He was in school, he was working, and he could finally pay for those plane tickets to get his boyfriend on his side of the country. And Naruto was too excited to breathe.

 

Or maybe he was too nervous. He looked at his phone again. At the messages there, awaiting a reply that Gaara would only get once he landed. The three words that he always said, that Gaara always said back, but never first. He typed them out.

 

_ I love you. _

 

There was no point in trying to get back to sleep. Naruto got up and got into the shower, leaning against the cool tile as the hot water poured over him. He held his hand out in front of him. He’d get to hold his boyfriend’s hand for the first time so soon. He brought his hand to his face and smiled into it. He’d see him today. Not talk on the phone, not a grainy video call—he was going to  _ touch _ him. He could finally kiss him. Hold him. Hear his heartbeat. 

 

Naruto dried off and brushed his teeth, flipping through his Spotify to one of the playlists Gaara had made for him, then hitting shuffle. 

He brushed his teeth, then tried (and failed) to tame his hair. He pulled on an orange hoodie and some jeans, stomping down the stairs and spooning some instant coffee into a chipped mug. He didn’t need to drink coffee; he had enough energy to get away with not doing it. But he liked the ritual of making it. He wondered if Gaara did. He realised he’d never asked. He knew Gaara preferred to drink tea, not coffee, but did he make it? Did he buy it from a cafe? Did he microwave the water, or was he like Sakura, who owned three electric kettles and was baffled when someone didn't?

 

He looked at his own kettle (a gift from her) and smiled. It was funny that after all these years there were still things he didn’t know about his boyfriend. He poured sugar and milk into his coffee. He was excited to find out the little things, to notice the quirks, the little gestures, the things everyone took for granted. 

 

He sat at his counter and hummed, spinning his phone, waiting for it to light up. He sipped his coffee, letting it sit in his mouth for a minute. Before he knew it, his mug was empty, and he still had two more hours to kill before it made sense to go to the airport. 

 

He got up and walked to the door, grabbing his keys and a hoodie, pulling it on as he locked the door and shuffled down the apartment stairs to the parking lot outside his building, unlocking his beater of a car and hopping in. He started it, frowning at the sound of the engine turning over a few times before finally starting and then driving off. He went out to the nearest toy store and shuffled in, nervously looking through the aisles until he found it. 

 

It was a little stuffed raccoon, one that was just big enough to fill the palm of his hand. He snickered and brought it to the counter, quickly paying for it and then scooting over to the nearest bookstore. 

 

Naruto never really read. His dyslexia made it too hard, but he knew Gaara loved to read, and since he had insomnia, and the time difference would probably only make it worse, Naruto decided to grab a couple books for him to keep at his apartment. He bought a handful purely based on how their covers looked and grabbed a comic for himself. Biting his lip, he imagined sitting on the couch together, reading, music playing, just. Being together. Actually being together. Eating popcorn, talking about nothing- talking about everything. Their days. Their dreams. 

_ One day _ , he thought,  _ one day I’ll ask him to move in.  _

 

He tossed it all in the back seat of his car and then drove to the airport an hour early. When he got there he pulled out the raccoon, tucking it in the pocket of his hoodie, and sat in the area by the baggage claim. Gaara’s plane wasn’t even on the tarmac yet, so Naruto was left to try to wait it out.

 

Turns out… waiting was a problem. He chewed the inside of his cheek, looking at the place where people who had disembarked were walking through, wheeling their carry on and talking to one another. Naruto rapped his feet, glancing up at the arrivals screen every few minutes and trying to ignore the squirming feeling in his stomach. 

 

He stood up and started pacing. His reflection caught his eye. He had a moment of panic. He was broad, and muscular (another gift of Sakura’s—a gym membership, because she wanted someone to go with), but short. His face was scarred, his hair was a mess no matter what he tried… but Gaara knew about his face, his hair, even a little about his build… but he was barely 5’9... What if Gaara was expecting him to be six feet tall? What if Gaara didn’t like short guys? What if Gaara was six feet tall and had a rule against dating people shorter than him? What if Gaara took one look at him and turned right back around to get a plane home straight away?

 

Naruto forced himself to sit and try to calm down. He knew that Gaara wasn’t that shallow. He knew that Gaara would still want to be with him, even if he was short and his face was a little marred. Gaara wouldn’t care about something little like that. But he couldn’t help but feel nervous. What if he disappointed Gaara?

 

He sat like that, nervous thoughts chasing each other around his head as he stared at the carpet, hands tucked into his hoodie, turning the raccoon toy over and over. He worried his bottom lip. He was thinking so intently about his boyfriend, that he forgot to keep an eye on the arrivals board. That was, until another group of travellers were filtering through, waiting for their luggage, pulling wheeling suitcases past him. He stared up at the board. Gaara’s plane had landed and emptied out. The luggage was on the carousel.

 

Naruto leapt to his feet, staring around. He shifted, peering around tall strangers, scanning faces for one he recognised.

 

After a few minutes, his eyes caught a shock of blood red hair. He froze. The person it belonged to turned, pulling their suitcase away from the conveyer belt and finally,  _ finally, _ looking up at him. 

 

Pale, green eyes, a slight smattering of freckles, faint enough that they wouldn’t show on a low res video call, eyeliner bleeding down onto cheekbones that did nothing to hide an insomniac’s sunken eyes. A red kanji, tattooed on a forehead that Naruto  _ loved _ . It was Gaara. Gaara in all his glory, in the flesh.

 

Naruto didn’t know what he was doing. He didn’t think. He just ran, joy rising in his chest, and people moved out of the way, shifting, looking- and then Gaara was in his arms and he smelled like sleep and travel and like he’d been eating apples… And Gaara was shocked for a moment, his arms out like he wasn’t sure what to do, his eyes wide in surprise.

 

But then his hands balled up into fists, gripping the back of Naruto’s hoodie, and he pressed his face into Naruto’s shoulder and laughed quietly.

 

“You’re a liar, Naruto Uzumaki,” He said in his deep, raspy voice, like he’d swallowed a mouthful of sand, “you said that you were short.”

 

~~~

 

Naruto Uzumaki was hugging Gaara like he was afraid if he let go he’d disappear. He wasn’t saying anything, and it was beginning to make Gaara feel nervous. He hadn’t ever mentioned how short he was to Naruto. And… well… he was very, very short. Naruto has joked about being a ‘short guy’, and Gaara had pictured him being the same height as he was, but… Naruto must have been 5’10” at least… and Gaara… Gaara was not. 

 

And now that Gaara was in his arms, Gaara could feel that Naruto hadn’t been joking about the time he’d been spending at the gym. He’d thought it was just something he said, like Kankuro did. Almost a joke. That even when he did go, he wasn’t doing much there…

 

This was inaccurate. Naruto was… very strong. Gaara felt his face grow a little warm, and pressed if further into Naruto’s shoulder. One of Naruto’s wide, warm, calloused hands came and tangled itself with Gaara’s hair. Gaara inhaled deeply. Naruto smelled like deodorant and soap and coffee, and he was warm—hot even, at least, in comparison to the air outside. But Naruto pulled back, and Gaara peered up into his face, his heart making it best effort to crack his ribs.

 

“Gaara!” Naruto said hoarsely, his hands coming to cup his face, tears in his massive blue eyes, “You’re… you’re actually here!”

 

Gaara reached up and grasped Naruto’s wrists, letting a smile overtake him. “Yes, I am,” 

 

And… then Naruto was kissing him. His lips warm, and soft, and actually  _ pressed against Gaara’s _ . Gaara was afraid he might melt completely, be reduced to a puddle on the airport floor. Naruto looped a thick arm around Gaara’s waist and pulled him close again, and Gaara reacted this time, grasping the front of Naruto’s hoodie and pulling him down a little more, arching his back and smiling into their kiss. They were kissing. They were kissing! The thing he’d dreamed about and stressed over for four, five, six years… they were actually, really kissing for the first time in the middle of a crowded baggage claim. 

 

When the kiss broke, Naruto rested his forehead against Gaara’s, smiling and biting his lip. Gaara’s heart must have succeeded in its attempted escape, because it had stopped beating entirely. Naruto was  _ perfect _ .

 

“I can’t believe it,” Naruto whispered, “You’re totally perfect. How’d I get so lucky?”

 

Gaara’s face burned, and he had to bring his hands up to cover it. Naruto let out a breathy laugh and picked up Gaara’s suitcase. His other hand looped around Gaara again, and Gaara allowed himself to be steered out of the airport and toward the car park. 

 

Naruto loaded Gaara’s suitcase into his trunk, seeming like he couldn’t take his eyes off of him, flashing him grins so wide that his eyes squeezed shut and hissing the word ‘wow’ under his breath. Gaara’s face was burning. 

 

They got into the car and Gaara looked at Naruto, who was still looking at him like he was scared he’d disappear any second. “Can we just… sit together here for a little bit?” Gaara asked, grabbing the front of his shirt and balling it up in his fist. Naruto nodded.

 

“Is there… something wrong?” He asked, an edge of nervousness in his voice. Gaara looked up at him, his eyes wide, and shook his head.

 

“No! No, I uh… I’m just a little… You’re… you’re… Well-”

 

Naruto reached into the pocket of his hoodie and pulled out a tiny raccoon plushie, holding it out for Gaara. Gaara took it, his eyes wide as he looked up at Naruto. He bit his bottom lip and fidgeted a little. Naruto smiled and kissed his forehead.

 

“You know-” He started, but Gaara reached up and caught his lips in a kiss, his hand on the back of Naruto’s neck and his thumb brushing up against his soft, blond hair. 

 

When they broke apart again, Gaara looked him straight in the eyes and took a deep breath. “I love you, Naruto Uzumaki,”

 

Naruto froze for a second, and then beamed, leaning forward and hugging Gaara yet again. “I love you too, Gaara!” 


End file.
